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Events

In partnership with Memoria Abierta, the Human Rights and Security Initiative convened 15 scholars and activists to discuss strategies and tactics for growing constituencies in support of transitional justice and challenging absent memory. This meeting is part of a larger project that seeks to address issues of absent memory. More information on that project is available here.

Russians today still live with the social and political distortions of their Soviet past. Apathy, lack of trust, and an unaccountable government and law enforcement are all the price paid for Stalin’s project. Yet Vladimir Putin has said that young Russians should be brought up to be proud of their history. Maxim Trudolyubov discussed why political elite want to cast Stalin’s legacy in a positive light and why a major rethink of the Stalinist past may be the first step toward real institutional change in Russia. Cosponsored by the Russia and Eurasia Program.

The United States has recently begun a debate about the need to account for policies and alleged crimes relating to counterterrorism since 9/11 and the best process for doing so: prosecution, commissions, Congressional investigation, general inquiry, something else altogether? Ambassador Tom Pickering, Vice Admiral Lee Gunn (retired), and Suzanne Spaulding led a discussion assessing these sensitive and timely issues.

Sarah Mendelson and Ted Gerber (University of Wisconsin-Madison) presented findings from their survey of young Russians on democracy, human rights, and perceptions of the past at the Carnegie Moscow Center. The presentation specifically examined the state of collective memory and its implications for Russia’s future. Presentation is available here (pdf).